


5 Times Julian Was a Polar Bear (and 1 Time He Wasn't)

by Readerofmuch



Category: Orbiting Human Circus of the Air (Podcast)
Genre: 5+1, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, a little bit, everything turns out well in the end, h/c
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-17 22:48:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13087023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Readerofmuch/pseuds/Readerofmuch
Summary: This is a gift for ninom3000 for the amazing ohc Holiday Exchange. Happy Holidays!





	5 Times Julian Was a Polar Bear (and 1 Time He Wasn't)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ninom3000](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninom3000/gifts).



> This is a gift for ninom3000 for the amazing ohc Holiday Exchange. Happy Holidays!

1- Polar bear cubs spend their first few months close to their mother, growing strong enough to live on their own. Once they are anywhere from one to two years old they set out on their own. 

Julian wasn’t two when he set out alone- that would be ridiculous. He was at least seven when he boarded the train by himself. He was still much too young, but he remembers the bumping as the train moved, and the kind woman who let him sit beside her and her grandchildren. They were messy, passing sandwiches around and  carefully drinking lemonade ordered special from the dining car. At least, Julian ws careful. He couldn’t imagine wasting even a single sweet, tangy drop. 

When they arrived, the grandmother didn’t want to leave him alone. He convinced her his great-grandfather was coming to pick him up, which wasn’t true, and promised he would write her as soon as he could. This wasn’t true either, but that certainly wasn’t Julian’s fault. Juvenile polar bears don’t get much support from their families- ideally, they never see them again. Even when Julian’s great grandfather let him in, Julian was still alone more often than not.It was hard to write letters when he was still figuring out how to write at all. He still felt like a polar bear though. All the polar bears on the radio had narrators, so Julian felt he wasn’t too far off.

2- Polar bears are unusual among bears- it’s usually only pregnant females who build dens. Most spend their winter in walking hibernation, only denning if the winter is especially harsh. 

Julian didn’t have anywhere that was really his anymore. If he stayed more than a few nights anywhere, the gendarmes would come to kick him out, or the locals would inform him, kindly but firmly, that he was to move on now. Even through the winter, Julian walked. It was better than stopping for too long and freezing, or seeking a bed in a shelter where he could never feel quite safe. 

The situation was temporary, he told himself. Even his own narrator knew he was lying. So like a polar bear, Julian walked. He found work where he could, mostly cleaning. He wasn’t big enough for heavy labour, or well spoken enough for basic office work. He had, at one point, four different businesses that hired him at different times to clean. It was tiring, but it was a start. Maybe he would have a den for when the worst of winter came.        

3- Polar bears can obtain swimming speeds of up to 10km/h (6 mph) in frigid arctic waters, swimming for as many nine days without resting. 

As Julian climbed the tower, he knew he wouldn’t fall. It was cold, sure, and slippery. Any danger was worth it though for even just a glance inside the ballroom at the top of the Eiffel Tower, or a night alone with the stars and the radio signals. Julian had lived many places throughout his life, but now he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. 

He could climb further than most would have thought possible, and for longer. Up high enough, he could hear the radio signals like he was listening to the stars. He was on a balcony for once when Leticia came out for a smoke and found him staring up. 

“They are beautiful, no?” she asked, looking as much at him as the sky. Julian nodded earnestly. 

“I like the stars. I-if you go up high enough, the Tower catches radio signals from all over the world! Not just here, from the Orbiting Human Circus, everywhere. It sounds like the stars are- are singing.”

He petered out towards the end, realizing how childish it must sound. Leticia only nodded contemplatively. She blew a grey plume of smoke that hung frozen in the air. Their conversation hung right alongside it.

“Why do you climb?” asked Leticia, at last, blowing away both smoke and silence. Julian shrugged, still staring up. “Surely,” she continued, “They do not require you to clean the outside of the tower?”

She sounded horrified. Julian shook his head.

“No, I only need to clean the walkways. It’s just so beautiful up here, with just the stars to sing to me. When there’s nothing for me to do, or I’ve been kicked out of the ballroom, it’s nice to have somewhere to go.” 

Leticia shot him a baffled look. 

“Surely,” she said, slowly, “You could go home? I know you ‘ave the keys to the tower, there’s no reason you could not return.”

Julian only shrugged again. 

“Home is never far. I like it out here.”

Leticia looked at him with pity in her eyes. Did she know? How could she know? Suddenly, he smiled. Maybe... 

Julian shifted on his beam to make a noise like sliding fabric. 

“Aaaah! Leticia!”

He slid from the beam beside the platform to one beneath it, just out of sight. 

“Julian! Julian, are you alright? If you are playing a trick, I swear-” 

Julian could hear Leticia darting to the edge of the platform. He counted down a few seconds before popping his head back up. 

“Boo.”

“Mon dieu, Julian! Qu’est ce que tu fais? Don’t ever do that again!”

Julian smiled at her. 

“Don’t worry. I could never fall.”

4- Though Polar Bears are fast in the water, seals are faster. Polar bears wait instead at breathing holes and snatch surfacing seals for their supper. 

Julian was not exceptionally comfortable in the vent. He had listened here a few times before, but he hadn’t dared do anything else yet. He wasn’t brave enough to do anything more, not yet at least, but he liked the comparison. This show was like air to him, even if he could never be any closer than the air vent. Not yet, at least. The orchestral’s song filtered through the vent; both his ears and his heart were full of music. The vent wasn’t too close to the stage, but he would still hear every whisper.

Well, not quite every whisper. There was a low murmuring from the crowd that drowned out the introduction. What was the act that night? What story would be told? He had to know. He leaned against the vent, just a little, pressing his ear against icy metal in hopes of- 

CRASH!

Closer to the stage than he had realized, Julian, Janitor at the Eiffel Tower, crashed through the thin ice around his breathing hole and plunged hard onto the stage. Host John Cameron ran over as soon as he heard the sound. 

“You- you there. Are you alright? What are you doing here?”

Reflexively, John Cameron held the mic towards Julian. Julian smiled weakly, still shaky from the fall. 

“I’m Julian, Janitor at the Eiffel Tower,” he said, “And welcome to the Orbiting Human Circus of the Air.” 

Julian was always proud of that moment, though he was considerably less proud of passing out immediately afterwards. 

5- Polar bear fur is not white at all- it’s clear with a hollow core. It traps the light and reflects it back, retaining heat for the bear. 

Julian knew, in his heart, that he was a being in the physical world. It was just so easy to forget, sometimes, when he felt like he would vanish into the dark. That’s why sought out the stage lights, and the microphone. He needed someone to know that he was there. 

Jacques, tasked with walking him offstage, certainly knew he was there.

“Sorry Julian, but Tish says you gotta head out for the night. Go get a coffee or sumthin’.”

“You don’t understand, I have to be out there. I-I-”

“Look Julian, Tish is in charge backstage, not me. If you have somewhere else you need to be in the tower that’s fine, but you can’t stay here.”

While they spoke, Jacques escorted gently but firmly to the door out of the ballroom at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Even at his sternest, he was still so kind. He paused for a moment when they reached the door to look at Julian. 

“D’you need me to get anything for you from back here before you go? I’d hate for you to have to stay late ‘cause you left your broom here or something.”

Julian shook his head, breathless. The way Jacque was looking at him now- not romantically, necessarily, not that Julian would mind if it were- but like he mattered. Like there was something about him that was important, if only to Jacques himself. Suddenly leaving wasn’t so hard. It wasn’t stage lights, but it would be enough to keep him warm for the night. 

+1 Polar Bears have a thick layer of fat called blubber. This blubber helps them to stay warm even in arctic winters, and protects their internal organs. 

Julian had things to do. The ballroom still needed to be swept, and he had- he needed to- it was something, even he couldn’t think of it just then. He needed to move, was the point, no matter how tempting it was to stay curled up for just a little longer. Julian just couldn’t quite muster the energy to shift away from one thought though: his polar bear analogy was broken. 

Polar bears were big, and warm. Julian was small and cold. 

For the moment, Julian was curled on the cot in the janitor’s closet. The closet itself was nearly empty for the show. The singing saws were gone and Julian didn’t have much to fill the space. All he could do was shiver in the cold, empty air and listen to the show as it came up through the vents. The Orchestral sang the introduction and then…. Was it- it couldn’t be ending. He’d only closed his eyes for a second, barely a blink. The crowd applauded loudly, almost drowning out the knocking on the door. Wait. Knocking? 

“Julian?” called a familiar French accented voice, “Julian? Are you in here? Pierre spilled the moon cat’s cream all backstage, I need your mop.”

“Come in,” Julian did not say. He tried, but it seemed speech was not his friend. 

“Julian? Are you in there?” called Leticia again. She sounded more concerned than annoyed. “I’m coming in.”

Julian could hear keys turning in the lock, and the door opening. The lights were out- had they been out before? When Leticia hit the switch, Julian whimpered involuntarily and flinched. 

“Mon dieu Julian, are you alright?”

Cautious footsteps came towards him, and then clattered away. 

“Jacques! Viens, come here! Pierre, call an ambulance.”

“I’m fine,” said Julian, and passed out. 

When Julian woke up again, he was warm and his hat was missing, neither of which was exactly typical. He lifted his arm to feel for it, but someone stopped him.

“It’s alright Julian,” said Pierre. “Leticia put your hat on the table next to you. The nurses gotta examine you pretty often and the hat kept getting in the way.” 

“Pierre?” asked Julian, dazed. “Leticia?”

Pierre nodded. 

“She carried you down the tower herself. John convinced her to head home and get some sleep. Jacques is on his way back from closing the theater, but I’m s’posed to call them all as soon as you’re up. So kid, you up?”

Julian gave the question serious thought before shaking his head. 

“Call them… morning…” he said, yawning once before slipping back off. The last thing he heard was Pierre’s warm laugh, and Julian smiled. No matter how long he slept, he knew someone would be there when he woke up. 

**Author's Note:**

> French notes:   
> Mon dieu : my god   
> Qu'est ce qu tu fais? : what are you doing? (diminutive, used among friends)  
> Viens :come


End file.
